8 Then there was Matt Roe, who, he said, had given up a landscaping business in Adelaide, Australia, and created a family rift when he set off for Ukraine in March. Michael Young, a lean 36-year-old American with a shaved head, sat in the booth of a dim bar near Maidan Square and sipped at his Heineken. He said, All right, and a week later I flew to Slovakia.. I may be going dark here for up to two weeks, maybe more, he informed them. His Marine training had helped keep his stress level down, and he had emerged as the leader of his small group of volunteers. Ukraine accuses Russia of arming the separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and also sending its troops to the region. One American volunteer, who said he was with the Georgian National Legion of the 122nd Territorial Defense Brigade (Odessa), said onsocial mediathat "our base got f***ed up. John's more conventional military experience began when he was aged 16, when he joined the Army after leaving school, serving for nine years. "I'm not going to lie to you, being in battle's a scary thing, and people generally do not enjoy being in a battle," John says. The units symbol is the head of a wolf an allusion to ancient Persians description of Georgia as a land of wolves.. A former professional mixed martial arts fighter who holds a post-graduate degree in international relations from a French university, Mamulashvili saw Russias 2014 attack on Ukraine as one more battle in his lifelong struggle against Russian oppression. ILDU-Logo.jpg 646 546; 399 KB. Russia should be stopped in Ukraine and Ukraine should get its sovereignty, Mamulashvili said. The shopkeeper noticed the Croatians accent and asked where he was from. I tried to learn the alternative way, but diplomacy doesn't work with Russia, it becomes senseless. On March 6, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced that that some 20,000 volunteers from 52 countries had signed up to join an "international legion" to defend Ukraine. The longest alarm came on the day that the training camp was attackedfrom two to seven in the morning, he said. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories. There is not an agreement that they have not broken, because the only language they understand is the bullet. But I remembered Scottys concerns about social media compromising positions and figured they probably had good reason for their caution. Then there were those like Michael Young, moved by a tangle of motives that he had struggled to understand: moral outrage, a thirst for adventure, a yearning for redemption. We were joined by Michael Kelley, an American ex-soldier and commercial fisherman from Maine. I decided to put this skill set to use in Ukraine. He joined up with the International Legion, which directed him to the Yavoriv base. PAVLOPIL, Ukraine He walked and talked and dressed like a Ukrainian soldier and according to a contract with its armed forces, he is one. Unit insignia When fighting in Donbas began, volunteers from Georgia came to help fight the Russian-backed rebels who were taking control of territory. We had to leave our medical equipment, body-armor plates, helmets, and other gear behind. 04 March 2022. In Australia, then prime minister Scott Morrison urged citizens not to travel to Ukraine, and warned that fighting in the conflict was possibly illegal. With that said, this war could erupt at any moment and become mobile again so there is that to consider., Regarding the symbolism of his presence on the front lines, Aslin said of his Ukrainian comrades, Id like to think it reminds them theyre not alone in this fight, and that we are doing what our countries cant.. But before hed even made it into Ukraine, he got a sense for the wildly uneven quality of volunteers in the International Legion. Just like Poles or French fought in the allied armies in World War II, so am I fighting with Ukraine. Thousands volunteer to join Ukraine's International Legion Army after appeal from Zelensky including 'several' American veterans - as locals are offered $3,300-a-month to fight Since the war began in 2014, the Georgia National Legion has enlisted soldiers from 27 countries, including the US, Australia, Germany, Georgia, Mexico, Azerbaijan, the UK, Austria, France, Greece, Japan, Croatia, and Serbia. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier . Prior to joining the Ukrainian armed forces, from 2015 to 2017Aslin volunteered with the Kurdish YPG and Syrian Democratic Forces to fight against the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria. Although badly wounded by torture, his father was elated to learn that his disappeared son was still alive, My presence breathed life into him, Mamulashvili later said. Ukraine's neighbour Georgia has a vested interest - Russia supported breakaway provinces in Georgia too in 2008. I found myself out of a job, I felt useless, he said. "Other people's wars aren't a big thing on British media," he says. Since 1936, Georgia and Ukraine were officially known as the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic . And now, with Russian forces massed on Ukraines borders threatening a full-scale invasion this winter, Mamulashvili said theres been a spike in the number of foreigners applying to the Georgia National Legion with hopes of serving in Ukraines armed forces. Two British fighters, Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, and a Moroccan, Brahim Saadoun, were captured while fighting alongside Ukrainian forces. In 2007 he received a general discharge under honorable conditions, but it disqualified him from receiving tuition assistance under the G.I. Casting around for options, Young sent a blind message to a WhatsApp number hed obtained for the Georgia National Legion. In the wake of Ukraines 2014 pro-democratic revolution, Russian military forces launched an unconventional military offensive in the eastern Donbas region. The soldiers five Georgians and one Albanian snaked through an overgrown, abandoned industrial area. It. Robinson, who had worked during the Iraq War as a contractor for Kellogg, Brown & Root, came out of early retirement in Spain to join the fight in early March. He was shutting down his unit of the International Legion and heading back to the States, he said. A number of Britons have travelled to Ukraine to join the ongoing fighting in the east of the country. The Georgian National Legion has "a special affinity for U.S. recruits". On the chat, volunteers from the U.S., the U.K., Australia, and Sweden swapped information on border crossings and other logistics. Same. They are saying, We came here to fight, not to sit on a base. I say, Its war, people are dying there. "We've been here for eight years now, and we didn't have a salary for a long time," he said. Suddenly their days adopted a new gloss of hazard. The French army still has around 9,000 in its Foreign Legion, a nearly 200-year-old branch of its forces. She then gave him the chessboard for free. Were not getting paid here, were not asking the Ukrainian government for anything, were just here to help these guys get a better future. When Young was 12 years old, his fathera Navy vet whod become a Pentecostal missionarymoved the family from Washington to Latvia. Formed shortly after war broke out in Ukraine's mainly Russian-speaking east, the Georgian National Legion is a unit mainly made up of battle hardened former combat veterans from Georgia's three post-Soviet wars with Moscow. On battlefields throughout history, the combat engineer has proven time and again to be a decisive factor in victory and defeat. As it turned out, those blasts would set the tone for Youngs and Watsons first, difficult weeks in Ukrainea period characterized by the omnipresent threat of air strikes and the prevailing tedium of war. "But when the whole country kills civilians all day long, why can't we call them terrorists? As to my reasons for fighting [in Ukraine], for me its a continuation of the war in Chechnya, Osmayev told Coffee or Die. They had harbored a faint notion of somehow opening their own hospital unit, but jettisoned that idea, Casey says, after the main hospital in the area told them, frankly, that this sort of help wasnt needed. We just met. But then, so little had gone as theyd imagined it might. The Georgian National Legion or Georgian Legion (Ukrainian: , romanized: Hruzynskyy natsionalnyy lehion; Georgian: kartuli legioni) is a military unit formed by mostly ethnic Georgian volunteers fighting on the side of Ukraine in the War in Donbas and the Russo-Ukrainian War. But it felt like progress: They would be in the line of fire, where they wanted to be. Golden-domed churches rose over clusters of cement-block houses. This view was reiterated by a powerful-looking Georgian called Misha, who heads one of the legion's artillery units. He was there when Putin sent his troops over the border. Its a bit like a start-up, he told The Washington Post in April. The Biden administration believes that the reason . I dont think that Ukraine would be on my radar if I hadnt gone., Youngs time in the Baltics helped him understand the long-simmering fear of Russian authoritarianism that exists in the former Soviet statesin places like Ukraine, where the threat of invasion always felt real. International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine emblem.svg 800 800; 11 KB. While the Georgian National Legion does not include civilians, he said that it did train around 300 Ukrainian civilians as tensions were escalating and war became an increasing possibility.. Watson, who spoke some Ukrainian, still had family living around Kyiv and relatives fighting in the war. The alarms went off, we were getting ready to leave, and mortars started coming down, he said. Ukraine is . In particular, there is 13-year-old Oleg. In front of the citys main train station, an ornate Austro-Hungarian colossus, the bus doors opened for the two ex-Marines, and they followed a Google Map pin drop to a rendezvous point. Mamuka Mamulashvili is the leader of the Georgian National Legion, a volunteer unit formed by mostly Georgian soldiers that has attracted foreign fighters to Ukraine, including from many Western . But this is not the only unit composed of foreigners fighting in Ukraine. Other countries with large shares of pro-Ukraine foreign fighters include the post-Soviet countries of Belarus and Georgia, as well as Croatia, a country that fought for its independence from Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. We passed sandbagged checkpoints marked by tattered Ukrainian flags, roadside crates of Molotov cocktails, and banners declaring Russian warship, go fuck yourself. Soon the bus was crawling through traffic in central Lviv, and Young began trading WhatsApp messages with his handler at the Georgia Legion. Days later, when Young checked in with the womans physician at the hospital in Kramatorsk, where they had driven her, he was relieved to learn that shed survived and was doing well. Watson scanned the room, glancing at other men arched over their beers. At the beginning of 2022, he caught COVID, quit the arborist job, and spent the early months of the year doing the same work in the Idaho Panhandle, sawing branches through the cold, dark winter. For a few panicky moments, he was all but certain that hed make a wrong turn and run into a Russian position. Though still shadowed by its past, the battalion has cleaned up its image in recent months and this spring earned distinction and global attention for its part in holding off the Russians for weeks from inside the abandoned Azovstal Iron and Steel Worksthe huge industrial complex filled with subterranean chambers and tunnelsin the destroyed city of Mariupol. The Georgian Legion has been around since 2014, when 10 officers from Georgia volunteered to fight - and train Ukrainian soldiers - at the beginning of the conflict with Russia. firm in Salt Lake City, he was contemplating medical school but had felt compelled to head to Ukraine the moment the Russians invaded. After languishing in the backfield for weeks, the trio was now embarking on increasingly dangerous assignments. With the Russian army now concentrating its attacks on Donbas and the south, Lviv had come to feel too distant from the action. "There is no difference between so-called civilians and the government, they are the same occupiers, and they act the same when they are tourists in (my) country. An "International Legion" was formed by the Ukrainian government earlier this year, with positions for people with prior military experience. When reached by GQ, a State Department spokesperson was unable to comment on the particulars of this rumored ambush, noting that our ability to verify reports of deaths of U.S. citizens in Ukraine is limited., Next on their agenda was to construct a field hospital based out of Dnipro, a vital transit point for troops and military supplies bound for the eastern front; Russian missiles had destroyed the airport there in April. The war, at close range, had a way of defying expectations. Black plumes of smoke drifted toward central Lviv from a fuel depot nearly three miles away. The chat group also served as a guide to the outfits that accept foreign fighters in Ukraine. "But they enjoy the achievement of doing it, and the camaraderie is something that is undeniable.". Ukraine is just the latest in this line. Not since that conflict has a war in Europe elicited such a groundswell of support from foreign recruits. The men had converted other abandoned offices into bedrooms, with sandbagged windows, army cots, piles of helmets, and a Marilyn Monroe pinup. However, John says he believes helping to oppose the Russian-backed rebels is a just cause. He had joined the American military back in 2004, inspired by the 9/11 attacks that occurred in his sophomore year of high school. You could be there for five minutes and be killed or be there for months and nothing could happen.. Days later, Young announced to me that the three men had left the legion and joined up with a small unaffiliated band of foreign volunteers who eventually planned to transport supplies to the front and evacuate the injured. Fighting in Ukraine began in April 2014 after protesters stormed government buildings. The Georgian National Legion proudly displays pictures of its newest recruits on Facebook. A Ukrainian serviceman fires during a joint military training of armed forces, national guards, border guards, and Security Service of Ukraine near the Ukraine-Belarus border on February 11, 2023. . The base right next to us got f***ed up." He also said that Americans and "tons of British" were dead. Where once he had wanted simply a war to fight in, now Young had found instead something like a cause to believe in. I came here myself, as an individual, Bazanji said. Giorgi Lomsadze May 9, 2022 Members of the Georgian National Legion fighting in Ukraine (Facebook) While many Georgians feel a personal connection to the war in Ukraine, a number are putting their lives on the line for it, traveling to Ukraine to fight in its defense against the Russian invasion. Can Nigeria's election result be overturned? In the past month theres definitely been an uptick in people messaging and asking how to join, Aslin, who is currently deployed to Ukraines eastern war zone, told Coffee or Die via text message. It was created on 27 February 2022 by the Ukrainian government at the request of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to fight against the Russian invasion of the country. The streets were a wreck of impact craters, downed live power lines, and unexploded Russian rockets embedded in the asphalt. They were supposed to be joining our unit here in Kyiv in the next few days, he said. When the Russians get here our life is going to get better, Young said. All the buildings corporate tenants had evacuated the place hours after the Russians invaded; computer monitors left on desks and documents strewn about the floor attested to their panic. Fighting between pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian army has led to more than 10,000 deaths and displaced more than 1.6 million people over the past four years, says the UN. Hoefts allegations evaporatedbut not before he rattled the nerves of many potential volunteers. These notably include the Mozart Group, set up by a retired U.S. special operations commander named Andy Milburn as a counterpart to the Wagner Group, a rabidly pro-Putin mercenary outfit, and Task Force Yankee, a unit largely composed of volunteers from the U.S., Canada, and Europe cofounded by U.S. Army veteran Harrison Josefowicz. We dont trust you guys. To revisit this article, visit My Profile, thenView saved stories. One Sunday morning, Young set out for Severodonetsk, behind the wheel of the Polish ambulance, in a three-vehicle convoy. The soldiers five Georgians and one Albanian snaked through an overgrown, abandoned industrial area. In his viral video Hoeft said he'd tried to hook up with Georgia National Legion, a group of foreigners on the Ukrainian side largely made up of fighters from the country of Georgia. "Some people are politically motivated, some people have the desire to fight a war, there are people that have been ex-military and never been deployed, they feel like they've got something to prove. The Georgia National Legion trains at their base on the outskirts of Kyiv in 2021. Anyone who wants to join the defense, Zelensky said, can come and fight side by side with the Ukrainians against the Russian war criminals. The call to arms echoed the invitation made at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, when Republican forces fought off a coup attempt led by General Francisco Franco by enlisting the help of some 35,000 volunteers from 65 countriesincluding around 2,800 Americans who rushed to Spain to fight alongside Republican soldiers. The news of an official foreign unit was met with excitement by members of the Georgia National Legion, an English-speaking force of volunteers with Western military experience who train Ukrainian troops and sometimes deploy to the front line with the country's marines. The cell service had gone down, knocking out the GPS and forcing him to steer blindly. Matthew Robinson at the Georgia Legion's base in Kyiv. ILDU Blue and Yellow patch.jpg 3,024 4,032; 2.47 MB. Hudson Institute. The Georgian National Legion says it is funded by the Ukrainian government. The sun peeked above the horizon at 6 a.m., streaking the sky orange and crimson. Especially considering the fact that these soldiers were all volunteers training to defend a country that isnt their own. We have to fight for Ukraines freedom., On this days drills, the five Georgians are all combat veterans of Russias 2008 invasion of their homeland. Members of the Georgia Legion at their base in Kyiv, May 2022. @sparkomat, Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player. Were willing to lay down our lives in defense of this countrybecause its worth itbut instead were sitting here getting jerked around by everyone we meet., A spokesperson for the International Legion, Corporal Damien Magrou, a Norwegian attorney in Kyiv, didnt respond to requests for comment from GQ but has publicly acknowledged the challenges the force has faced in the past. He had spent the long, wet day training with Ukrainian reservists. The former Georgian military officer said the legion currently numbered 200 men, including those who have gone on to sign contracts with the Ukrainian military to join frontline units. "When one man straps a bomb on himself in a shopping mall, he is called a terrorist," he said. I gave them a lot of little caveats, he told me. As long as they need me. Air raid sirens were going off daily in Lviv, sending everyone in town scurrying to find cover and forcing them to wait hours for the all-clear signal. From award-winning writing and photography to binge-ready videos to electric live events, GQ meets millions of modern men where they live, creating the moments that create conversations. Instead, they decided that they would devote themselves to evacuating sick and wounded civilians from dangerous areas at the edge of Russian-controlled territory. The boring days can be worse than the busy ones, because after sitting around for two hours I start thinking, Am I qualified to do this?, After nearly three months in Ukraine, Young was still occasionally tormented by questions of confidence. Rather than treat Russia as a pariah, the focus should be on reintegrating it into Europe. Most of the so- called tourists in Georgia are agents of Russian Federation, they may destabilise the situation at any minute.". One Briton who has joined the conflict told the BBC why he considers himself to be a freedom fighter. In late April, Robinson and some of his men took over an abandoned office building in the capital and turned it into a Georgia Legion barracks and an urban training ground for Ukrainian reservists in the Territorial Defense Force. Elliot Kim, who served in the U.S. Army in Iraq. Now he was screening prospective foreign volunteers, trying to identify right-wing sympathies and serving as a Georgia National Legion spokesman for the francophone press. Members of the Georgian Legion paramilitary group train at their base on Jan. 14, 2022, in Kyiv. In March, Russian cruise missiles struck the International Peacekeeping and Security Center in Yavoriv. Four air raids in one day, Young texted to his friends and family at one point. But in 2015, seeing the rise of the so-called Islamic State (IS), he decided to make something of a return to his military roots and signed up to fight as a volunteer with the Kurds in Syria. The Russian side of the war has drawn more than 13,300 foreign fighters, of which about 12,000 are Russians. He began an itinerant life, driving a tour bus in Boston, toiling in wineries in Oregon and New Zealand, and working as a utility arborist in Oregon and eastern Washingtonshinnying up towering Douglas firs and Ponderosa pines and trimming branches away from power lines with a chainsaw.